When Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) became a surprise hit, the rest of Hollywood wanted to make musical fantasies too. One of the hottest properties was L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz, owned by MGM. The studio first hired a dozen screenwriters, some of whom were unaware that others were working on the project. At various points in these plots, Dorothy sang jazz, a spoiled Kansas girl and her pampered Pekingese were added as characters, and the Cowardly Lion became a transformed human prince with an opera singer fiancée. When the story really bogged down, the studio took the script back to basics until it looked more like Baum’s novel. The book’s original illustrations also influenced the film’s design, particularly in costuming. Dorothy’s dress in book and film is blue gingham, the Tin Woodman’s funnel hat and conical nose were taken from the illustrations, and the Cowardly Lion wears a red bow atop his mane in both. Contrary to a myth that The Wizard of Oz was a box-office flop, it became one of the biggest moneymakers of 1939, but it lost money overall, partly due to the enormous expense of Technicolor.